The present invention relates generally to piezoelectric devices which generate electrical energy by induced vibration and more specifically to an apparatus and method to utilize a thin, conformable sheet, having a plurality of piezobimorph cantilevered beams to produce electrical energy.
Moving objects or platforms generate vibration energy which is commonly steady in amplitude or that increases with age of the object or platform. All platforms suffer material degradation over time due to this continuous vibration, and for this reason system inspections are periodically performed or sensors are installed to monitor strain levels in such structures to help predict material failure. Common remotely addressable sensor devices require a power level in the milliwatt (mW) range. Batteries or other fuel sources can power such sensing devices. These power sources have drawbacks in that they require frequent maintenance or replacement, and in many instances may be located in difficult to reach locations in a platform. In addition, they deliver inadequate power levels and often fail at low temperature extremes.
Devices which generate mechanical or electrical power by the vibration of the item to which they are attached are known. In an exemplary application, the proof mass used in automatic wrist watches, i.e., the self-winding wrist watches, either rotates or moves in one direction due to the movement of the wearer""s wrist. This type of device produces energy in very low quantities, typically in the micro-watt range, sufficient to power the wrist watch. Based on its low power output and form factor, this type of device is not desirable for a power source for remote sensing devices required on applications for moving platforms such as aircraft. Further, this type of proof mass system is more suitable for impulse movements as opposed to continuous vibration movements. In addition, a further drawback of the proof mass type system of power generation is the size of the proof mass is typically impractical for use on most embedded sensor
Materials which can be attached to a vibration source and which generate an electrical current from the vibrations are known. Piezoelectric materials are examples of these materials, and are well known in the art. These materials generate small electrical currents when the material is deflected, for example by vibrations. A piezoelectric device which is small in size and advantageously utilizes the vibration energy of the platform as a power source is desirable. The use of very small devices such as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is known in the art to generate power. However, they are either impractical due to the low power generated (i.e., typically in the microwatt range or as low as the nanowatt range) or unreliable compared with piezoelectric devices.
Piezoelectric crystal systems harvesting energy from the motion of humans or animals are also known. This type of a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,134 issued to Kuo. Although the energy harvested by such a device may be adequate for remote sensing applications, it is macroscopic in size, measured in inches, which is undesirable for most embedded sensing systems.
The improvement using a piezoelectric bimorph beam to harvest vibration energy is also known. A bimorph beam is herein defined as a mirror image double layer of piezoelectric material arranged in beam formation. A bimorph beam is created by joining two oppositely polarized piezoelectric materials in a face-to-face configuration such that deflecting or bending the bimorph structure in one direction creates an electrical potential, and bending the structure in the opposite direction creates an equivalent electrical potential. The bimorph structure therefore produces electric current when deflected in either of two directions. However, most known bimorph piezoelectric beam configurations to date have been on larger size beam configurations, and thus cannot be deployed in a thin conformal layer that can be attached to an arbitrarily shaped structure without adding significant weight or volume.
An improvement is therefore desirable for piezoelectric material bimorph systems such that the resulting configuration is able to produce reasonably high current levels, while at the same time can provide a piezoelectric bimorph beam system which provides a degree of flexibility or conformability such that the material can be applied over a variety of surface areas, i.e. flat as well as curving surface areas. Also, past implementation of piezoelectric beams either have not had adequate protection so that the beam does not break or get damaged over a very long time period (tens of years) in a very harsh environment (e.g., aerospace) or they have had rather bulky and impractical protective packages.
According to the principles of the present invention, large arrays of MEMS devices having weighted, cantilevered, piezoelectric beams in a bimorph configuration, oscillate and produce electrical current from vibrations of the surface to which they are attached. The piezoelectric power source of the present invention can be integrated in a variety of applications, including wireless sensor modules. The power devices of the present invention are capable of operation as part of a stand-alone unit that can last for the lifetime of a system, a time span measured in decades. The magnitude of energy needed for exemplary wireless sensor applications require a generation rate of milliwatts of power. This is achieved in the present invention by maximizing the amount of energy each MEMS element generates and by using a large array of elements.
The power source devices of the present invention are made of the following parts: (1) an elementxe2x80x94a weighted, cantilevered MEMS piezoelectric bimorph beam; (2) a unit cellxe2x80x94a collection of MEMS elements in a form of about 1 centimeter squared (cm2) in area and about 0.5 millimeters (mm) thick, having about 150 to about 200 elements; (3) an arrayxe2x80x94the collection of many unit cells, typically about 100, all interconnected electrically to form a power generation unit; and (4) a protective sheathxe2x80x94a partially flexible electrically conductive material which forms a protective envelope for the unit cells on at least one element side and which provides the interconnection pathways between each element and the array. The sheath in one embodiment also provides a boundary limit, so that each piezobimorph element beam cannot overextend under impulse conditions, which could result in fracture. The sheath is preferably perforated, but can also be totally solid for some applications. The sheath is preferably flexible to permit an array to be connected over a flat or a contoured surface. The use of the sheath also allows for the array of MEMS piezoelectric bimorph beams to couple to longer wavelength harmonic vibrations of the structure, in a collective mode pattern, due the fact that all the elements of the array are mechanically joined to the sheath on one end.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a bimorph piezoelectric device is provided, comprising a plurality of micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) piezoelectric beams. The plurality of MEMS beams is arranged as pairs of MEMS beams, each pair having a connecting end and a weighted end. Each of said pairs of MEMS beams is electrically and mechanically joined through its connecting end to at least one flexible electrically conductive sheath, to form a joined array of MEMS beams, each having its weighted end free to deflect. Each weighted end of said pairs of MEMS beams of said joined array is deflectable to produce an electric current proportional to a quantity of said pairs of MEMS beams, said electric current is collectable from each of said at least one electrically conductive sheath.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a piezoelectric device for converting vibration energy to electric current is provided, comprising a plurality of pairs of oppositely polarized piezoelectric wafers deflectable to produce an electrical current. The plurality of pairs of wafers are each connected to a set of micro-machined elements. Each said set of elements with said pairs of wafers form a bimorph, said bimorph being configured as a cantilevered beam. Each said cantilevered beam is mass weighted on a first beam end, and fixedly attached to at least one protective sheath on a second beam end. A plurality of said bimorphs on said at least one protective sheath form an array.
In yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for forming a horizontally configured piezoelectric electrical current generating device is provided, which comprises the steps of: (I) creating an initial sub-assembly by: (1) joining a piezoelectric material plate to an upper surface of a substrate; (2) micromachining a lower surface of said substrate to both form a plurality of masses supported by said piezoelectric material plates and retain a plurality of non-machined lower surface areas; (3) electrically bonding said plurality of non-machined lower surface areas to an electrically conductive protective sheath; and (4) cutting through said piezoelectric material to separate a plurality of individual cantilevered piezoelectric material beam lengths; and (II) constructing a mirror-image sub-assembly to said initial sub-assembly; and (III) connecting said mirror image sub-assembly to said initial sub-assembly.
In still another preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for forming a vertically configured piezoelectric electrical current generating device is provided, which comprises the steps of: (1) filling until dry a sacrificial plastic replica mold with a ceramic piezoelectric slurry to form a piezoceramic green body; (2) bonding a substrate to said piezoceramic green body; (3) heat curing the substrate and piezoceramic green body to both remove said plastic mold and expose a plurality of piezoceramic vertical beams; (4) casting a resist over said beams along a top surface thereof; (5) aligning an X-ray exposure to create a plurality of recesses for an electrode structure and plating a metal in the recesses to metallize the piezoelectric beams; (6) flood exposing a remaining portion of said vertical beams; (7) spin-coating a thin negative resist layer for electrical isolation between the piezoelectric beams and the metallic proof mass and spin-coating a metal filled, negative X-ray resist on the top surface to provide a cantilevered proof mass; (8) performing a second aligned X-ray exposure to separate said cantilevered mass into a plurality of cantilevered masses; and (9) stripping both a remaining portion of said negative resist and said flood exposed resist to form a plurality of said cantilevered piezoceramic vertical beams, each having one of said plurality of cantilevered masses.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.